About

Michael Smulkis was born on July 25, 1955, in Chicago, Ill. After an accident while working at a bicycle shop as a teen, he took up watercolor painting to pass the time in the hospital. In this, he found one of his life's great callings, and from then on was an original artist, creating works of great depth and beauty. Michael painted in oils, acrylics, and watercolors, on canvas, board, and paper, and also created small sculptures in clay and poured acrylic. 

Michael also made starlight elixirs, from his mountain home outside Drake, CO, and published a book, Starlight Elixirs and Cosmic Vibrational Healing. He was working on another book of channeled Hilarion material until shortly before his death. His partner in the starlight elixirs was Fred Rubenfeld of Pegasus Products. Michael developed a truly opaque black paint for the bottles in which the stars were stored, to protect them from the light that would degrade them.

Michael never showed his art in galleries, preferring to focus his energies on creating rather than marketing, although he was always happy to show people what he was currently working on, or pull out examples from his vast body of finished work. After several years of working at the Palo Alto (CA) library in the 70's and early 80's, Michael moved on to supporting himself by providing Pegasus with "mother" stars and flower essences, by painting with his special black paint the 1 oz. bottles the stars were sold in, and with the help of family money. He also spent some time working in the Pegasus office, managing shipping and other operational needs of the business.

Michael grew up in Chicago, one of six children of first-generation Lithuanian-Americans. He attended both public and private high schools. His best friend in high school was Ryland Wakely, who later became a photographer and video artist. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Illinois University in 1978, Michael moved to California, reuniting with his college mate Joe Michelli, who is a multi-media artist now living in Australia and with whom Michael had shared a very adventurous trip to Morocco during their college years. Over the course of his life, Michael lived in Illinois, Oregon, California, Washington state, and Colorado. He traveled widely to see art, visiting Europe several times, and was a regular visitor to New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, DC., and other cities famous for their museums. He visited dozens of smaller cities to check out their art and natural history museums too. He was a member of several museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, and others.

Michael had wide-ranging tastes in art. While he especially revered the painters Paul Cezanne and Claude Monet, Michael had favorite artists from every era, genre, and medium. But the artist he loved the most, and who was the biggest influence on Michael's own painting, was Sam Francis.

Michael's friends are scattered across the country: "Chicago" Liz, "Seattle" Liz, Uma and Juanita (both in the Bay Area), Pat in the Southwest, Jon in the Sierras, Roger in San Francisco, Tami in the Seattle area, and others. His living siblings, too, are spread out: Joyce (and her two daughters) in Salt Lake City, UT; Elaine in Columbia, SC; and Ray in their native Chicago, Illinois. But no matter how far-flung, Mike managed to stay very connected to his friends. And he was a steadfast, reliable son and brother, taking primary responsibility for his ailing mother for many years prior to her death, and also for his brother Ray who requires assisted living. Michael spent the last several years of his life traveling monthly between Colorado and Chicago, to visit and oversee the care of both his brother and mother.

Michael was an avid gardener, with a special fondness for species roses. He collected rocks, minerals, and gems, and was a regular visitor to the gem and mineral shows in Colorado. He also collected Huichol bead and yarn paintings and sculptures. Michael studied tai chi and had a deep interest in alternative healing practices. He was known for his interest in "New Age" belief systems, most notably the Seth material.

Michael loved live music and attended concerts throughout his life, especially the big festivals in Chicago, where he was often joined by his sister Elaine. He enjoyed jazz, reggae, African music from across the continent (but especially the musics of Mali, Zimbabwe, and the Pygmy cultures), classical Indian music, classical Western music, early music, Indonesian gamelan, and the ambient sounds of space. He loved nature, especially forests, and hiked daily when home in Colorado. In the last few years, he became interested in birdwatching, but his first and life-long love was flowers, and he made essences of those, too, along with the starlight elixirs. Michael was a voracious reader, and his favorite TV show was Book TV. Along with being fanatical about Book TV, he was a fan of The Daily Show and Colbert Report. He greatly enjoyed watching the Olympics, especially ice skating. He was never a football, baseball, or basketball fan, but he would always refer to the Chicago teams just like the rest of the locals: "Da Bears". He amassed a library of several hundred art books, covering the gamut of artistic styles and periods.

Michael will always be remembered by those that loved him for his wonderful artwork, the starlight elixirs, his sly sense of humor, his generosity and willingness to listen deeply, his passion for art, museums, music, rocks, and nature, his love of polarfleece, warm winter hats, Thermarest cushions, neck pillows, and cats, and how fond he was of a handful of his favorite foods: lamb, scrambled eggs, baked yams, avocados, nuts, bananas, and black tea.

He was a true Chicagoan, at home anywhere on the West Coast, and a Mountain Man too. Michael was truly one of the most interesting, creative spirits most of us have ever known.

Michael Smulkis died from pancreatic cancer on November 30th, 2014, at home in Drake, Colorado, with long-time friend Tami by his side.